Voting Prompts Clash

Councilman Cries `Racial Politics' In Filling Of Panel

A divided Hartford city council Monday approved one member for the city's economic development commission while rejecting a candidate for a second opening.

The votes had little to do with qualifications; instead, the nominations rose and fell on issues of residency, race and political affiliation.

Jose L. Del Castillo, a Hartford resident and attorney who is unaffiliated with a political party, was appointed to the commission through March 2005. He replaced Carlos Lopez, a Republican who resigned last year.

Republican Minority Leader John B. O'Connell, who saw his candidate, Allen A. Ackerman, sunk by the council two weeks ago, opposed Del Castillo, saying that Lopez's replacement should have been a Republican.

But Latino activists, such as Carmen Rodriguez of La Casa de Puerto Rico, said Lopez's replacement should be a Latino. And some council colleagues complained that O'Connell didn't try hard enough to find a qualified Latino Republican.

O'Connell lambasted his fellow council members for making appointments based on ``racial politics'' instead of qualifications.

``I'm not going to play these racial games on these appointments,'' he said.

The fight left an opening for Del Castillo, the principal in Del Castillo & Associates. He was pushed unsuccessfully for corporation counsel by Councilwoman Elizabeth Horton Sheff.

``He is not only a practicing lawyer, but has financial and business qualifications,'' Horton Sheff said Monday.

Horton Sheff, a member of the Green Party, said that Republicans were not the only minority party in the city. She said Green members and unaffiliated voters should also have a voice on city panels.

But the council rejected the nomination of Julio C. Casiano, a vice president at Fleet National Bank.

Casiano is a Democrat who was supported by Deputy Mayor Frances Sanchez and Councilman Eugenio Caro, both fellow Democrats.

But Casiano, who lives in Windsor, failed to carry even the votes of fellow party members, who wanted a city resident.

``I'm sure he's a fine guy, but I'm sure there are plenty of fine Hartford candidates,'' said Councilwoman Marilyn Rossetti, who joined fellow Democrats Steven M. Harris and Louis Watkins in voting against Casiano.

Casiano would have replaced Alexander Aponte, who resigned from the commission to become corporation counsel.

There was no word on who was next in line for the vacancy on the 11-member economic development commission, which was set up as a public-private venture to jump-start revitalization. The commission incorporates the city's old redevelopment commission.

Adam Cloud, a commission member who attended the council meeting, said he was glad to finally fill one of the vacancies, but wished the council would have approved both men.

``We need bodies,'' Cloud said. ``I don't care if they are black, yellow or green, as long as they are qualified.''